Donda is a black horse in Kanye’s discography. Like, Kanye has eras. You have his early works, like College Dropout and Late Registration, which had unlimited ambition and a nostalgic, chipmunk soul sound. Then, you have his blockbuster LPs, like Graduation, Dark Fantasy, and even Life of Pablo to an extent. He has introspective albums like Ye and 808s. And who can forget the nincompoopish Vulture series? Of course he has anomalies like Jesus is King and the innovative Yeezus, but Donda is something different. It’s indescribable. Like literally, it’s an indescribable album. I can say that Yeezus is Kanye’s electronic, industrial ego trip through fame and I can say that Jesus is King is Kanye’s gospel album. But what in the world is Donda? Is it a tribute to his mom? A story about his divorce? An album about God? It’s also a really inconsistent album, but not in a completely bad way. The highs on this album could be some all time classics in a few years, but there’s still a lot of filler and half-cooked songs along the way.
The album starts off with the chanting of Donda, followed by the first real song, Jail. The booming instrumentals are reminiscent of Yeezus, yet Kanye’s energy feels blunted from the autotune. Jay-Z’s verse, however, feels incredibly underwhelming. Jay-Z should be a 25 year, seasoned veteran of rap, and yet this 50 year old calls a jail cell a celly. His verse euthanizes the song, and the slow tempo does not do the song any favors. It’s like Yeezus for dummies; Black Skinhead at bedtime. God Breathed makes no sense. If Jail is Yeezus for dummies, God Breathed is Yeezus for fetuses. The song has a Yeezus-esque, industrial/electronic rap instrumental, yet it has no hook, no wit and it runs for a grueling 5 minutes.
Following God Breathed is an absolute banger, Off the Grid. Solid beat, solid chorus and solid Carti and Fivio features. The fact Kanye is able to keep up with the energy of two people more than 20 years his junior is something to be applauded. The next two songs are the LP’s largest, Hurricane and Praise God, and for good reason. Hurricane has a decent verse from Lil Baby, but absolutely stunning vocals by the Weeknd and the chorus is absolutely ethereal. The moment where the Weeknd’s reverbed vocals ask God to hold him close, only for the choir to enter, blew me out of the water. Now that is peak Kanye songwriting; amazing production with features from people that are far more talented than he is. What is not peak Kanye is his own verse, which is passable at best and corny at worst. Kanye lands probably one of his best flows in recent memory while rapping the chorus on Praise God over a powerful choir sample. Travis Scott makes for a solid feature, but Baby Keem’s verse is unfocused and boring.
Jonah and Ok Ok are equally forgettable. Jonah has a sweet chorus and Ok Ok improves on this by also having a solid beat, but both have pretty forgettable verses and features. Junya has Kanye doing a Carti impression for 2 minutes, and it gets pretty repetitive after the first minute. But Whole Lotta Red era PlayboiCarti is still pretty enjoyable, and at least Kanye seems to be having fun with his ad libs. Believe What I Say has one of the best samples Kanye has ever produced, interpolating Lauryn Hill, like back on the classic All Falls Down. The verse from Kanye is carried by the beat and the random spoken word near the end of the song could get a bit weird, but overall it’s still a good song. 24 carries along the spiritual sweetness of Jonah, but has a dedicated focus on carrying the message of the song through choral vocals. In this effort, Kanye definitely finds more success than in Jonah, as the song definitely feels like more of a sincere effort. Remote Control works for around a minute, but the repetitive nature of it really bores after the minute mark is surpassed. In the end, Remote Control sounds like more filler on an album that reaches almost 2 hours.
For such a long, detailed and bloated album that Donda is, it deserves an equally long, detailed and bloated album review. Therefore, this review is going to be a two-parter, with one half of the album being discussed this month and another half being discussed next month.